Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Editor's Note: Hey, guys! I have the week off because I'm prepping for what's going to be a really... weird entry in a few weeks. So Cassandra is here and talking about a big ol' loopy time travel story. But with Daleks. Word on the street is she liked it. And you know what they say about 'dem streets...

Background & Significance: This story is kind of a big deal.

As the first story in Doctor
Who’s 9th season, “Day of the Daleks” promised to not only open
the season with a bang, but also—well, Daleks.

Since their apparent departure in the epic Troughton serial,
“Evil of the Daleks,” the Doctor’s first foes stayed off the air for
essentially four years, before the BBC started wheedling script editor Terrance
Dicks and producer Barry Letts to bring them back.

But bring them back they did, and, though originally
intended to appear at the very end of the season, instead got inserted into
this lively little adventure, to open the season with a bit of spectacle.

“Day of the Daleks” is written by Louis Marks who wrote the
enjoyable serial “Planet of Giants” wayyyy back in Hartnell’s second
season. He would later go on to write “Planet of Evil” and “Masque of Mandragora,” which gives him a pretty solid track
record, at least in my book. It’s
directed by Paul Bernard, who would later go on to direct “The Time Monster”
and “Frontier in Space,” so his track record after this is…not so good. I honestly have no idea if this was a fluke
or what, because… wow.

Anyway. Enough of all
that, let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Commentary!:

Part 1

I like that this first part is a bit… misleading.

It’s an interesting choice, starting off with a more ghost
story vibe, and then ending with some Daleks yelling EX-TER-MIN-ATE as they
love to do.

Just… everything about this.
The creepy ass house, the creepy ass dude trying to kill Sir
Reginald. How, later, the Doctor and Jo
camp out in the house all night, trying to see if they come across
anything. I like how the temporal
energy/travel is misconstrued as “vanishing” so we do end up with a ghost
story, of sorts. It’s neat. It reminds me of the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era,
how they took horror tropes and repurposed them with a sci-fi spin. It’s very much that sort of thing, and I
really enjoy it.

Granted, the illusion doesn’t last very long because we’re
treated with some information from the scary future time that everyone else in
the story is not privy to, but then we get some dramatic irony, which I also
enjoy. It adds a certain scope to this
story already in the first episode, which only gets bigger from here.

Speaking of added scope, I’ll address this up front: I’m
watching from the recently re-released version of this story, with all the
added in special effects and tweaks. And
there hasn’t been too much, just a computer-generated establishing shot of the
future, but you know what, I don’t mind it at all. I actually like what they did here. It doesn’t distract too much, and I think the
aesthetic of it fits in with the rest of the story and really adds some of the
scope this story relies so much on going forward to be successful.

I mean, we’re only in the first episode, and there’s Daleks,
Ogrons, time travel, crazy soldiers on an assassination mission, and threats of
global war on the brink of starting.
This is a HUGE story, and, as such, I think it’s awesome that they
shined it up a bit, brought the effects up to-date in such a way that couldn’t
have been accomplished in the 70s.

It’s like what they’ve been doing with Classic Trek, making all the shots in space and
all the effects nice and pretty and HD quality.
I was skeptical at first, but you know what? I was wrong. This sort of thing is awesome.

And maybe I’m just over-joyed at getting to see a Pertwee
story again, but you know what? This
whole thing so far is awesome. The sets,
the costuming, everything. I really
really dig it. And it’s nice to revisit
with this particular Doctor and companions.
I don’t know what it is, but I really love this era a lot, and I
honestly think I take it for granted.
Every time I watch a Pertwee story (though there are notable exceptions
where I just want to dig my eyes out of my face with a spoon), I just end up
loving Pertwee’s Doctor even more than I thought was possible. The same holds true here, especially since
everyone is on great form.

(Also, is it just me, or does Pertwee somehow manage to eat
in every. single. serial. or what?)

And I like how the Doctor and UNIT are investigating all of
these occurrences, possibly risking their lives for this asshole politician,
just because he’s a key player in the diplomatic negotiations going down with
China. Because he is an asshole. It’s kind of astounding. I’m surprised the Doctor doesn’t just go “okay,
fuck this,” and leave with a swirl of his fancy cloak. Especially after the Brig and the Doctor find
the soldier from the future and the ray gun.
It’s like, hello, they’ve got concrete evidence that something’s going
on here, and you just kinda panic and blow them off? If you think that’s going to help with
anything, man, you really are stupid.
And you’d think a politician would be better at lying (ooh, burn, I’m
sorry, it couldn’t be helped).

All that to say, the Brigadier and the Doctor are
bosses. I love them running around and
trying to solve mysteries together. It’s
so classic and wonderful. I just adore
them both so much.

Know who else is kind of an asshole? Captain Yates. Stealing Benton’s food and he pulls rank on
him. Jesus Christ. But that’s okay, because a) it’s funny, and
b) there’s so much gay subtext in that scene I’m freaking out with weird
fangirl joy, so I’ll allow it.

Sigh. I really just
love everything about this episode. The
writing is crisp, and the direction is lovely. Lovely.

Part 2

So I just noticed how the Daleks are voiced by Nick Briggs,
who, of course, does all of the Dalek voices in nu-Who. Which I kind of love,
because you can tell that they people behind this restoration really cared
about the quality of this story, only changing things for the better. I might get some hate over this, but whatever. I think it’s cool that they’re bringing this
story more up to date for a contemporary audience. Because this story ROCKS, and it’s the
perfect kind of romp to introduce a newbie to some Classic Who. And who doesn’t want more Classic Who
fans? Always a good thing.

So I like how this story progresses. We get quite a bit up front, in the first
episode, and in this, Louis Marks takes what we know, and builds on that. We get the first proper interaction of the 20th
century and the 22nd century, through Jo being sent into the future,
and, at the end, the Doctor meeting the Dalek in the tunnel. Which is lovely.

And I feel like there’s not a whole lot of padding here.
Granted, it’s only four episodes, which, thank the lord (not that I have
anything against more than four episodes in a story, if it’s done right, but
more often than not, it’s not done right, and there’s a shit ton of boring
padding, ugh). But it’s clipping along
splendidly, and there’s a lot of great moments.
There’s still the mystery of why the soldiers are even going back into
the past, and how the Daleks fit in with all of this. There’s a great action set piece towards the
end of the episode, with the Ogrons and the future soliders making a run for
it. There’s some great funny bits, like
the Brig rolling up in that Jeep, shooting down the Ogron for the Doctor, and
the Doctor just taking the Jeep right after.
And we have some great character bits, too, like with the Doctor and Jo
tied up down in the cellar, giving us some exposition, as well as letting the
story breathe. It’s just a great
execution of structure, and I really like this script. Props to Louis Marks for that.

Now, I haven’t talked about the Doctor and Jo yet, so I’m
gonna take the opportunity to do that now.
I just… I love the Doctor and Jo SO MUCH. So much.
Their relationship, their whole dynamic just works. And I love them in
this. They’re so comfortable with each
other, and you can tell they just really care about each other and the Doctor
is so pleased that Jo’s learning, and at how far she’s come. And sure, he’s still kind of patronizing, but
she’s so plucky, it really balances out nicely, I think.

And, can I say again how much I just love Pertwee’s
interpretation of the Doctor? I don’t
even care that he obliterates an Ogron with a laser gun (okay, I do a
bit). I don’t know what it is about him,
but I’m the most lenient with the Third Doctor when it comes to violence. Granted, mostly all of it is done in self
defense, all that glorious Venusian aikido.
I just eat that shit up. It just
fits the UNIT aesthetic so well.

But he also manages to be suave and word-savvy and able to
talk himself out of a lot of situations, as the previous Doctors did, which is
nice, and that happens here as well. It’s
just a nice well-rounded balance of wacky martial arts antics and talking
through scrapes.

Though Jo… Oh, Jo.
You’re trusting the wrong people, darling! Granted, it’s not like she knows any better,
and how is she to know this evil motherfucker from the 22nd century
is really the true enemy? I mean, she’s
just come from being held at gunpoint by these soldiers, which is pretty
traumatic, I’d say. And Jo, she’s just
concerned for the Doctor and looking for help, of course she’d be quick to
accept any and all kindnesses thrown her way.
Though, he’s kind of creepy and definitely looks pretty evil. But I’ll allow it. It makes sense plot-wise, and character-wise,
which is great.

Long story short, this is just so great, all of it.

Part 3

I will say one thing about this, it’s edited together very
strangely. At least, at the beginning of
the episodes it is. It reaches the point
of the cliffhanger, and you can hear the crash of the end credits music for a
second, and then it’s right back into the scene. It’s very bizzare, and I’m not sure why it
happens.

Otherwise, holy shit is this story superb. Like, this is how you do a third
episode. You can tell it’s building to
some grand finale stand-off action set piece, but it’s still action-packed and
awesome in its own right. There isn’t
really any padding in this story at all, and it clips along effortlessly, in my
opinion. The episode is over too soon
for me, and it leaves me needing to know how it ends, even though I’ve already
seen this before. So good.

The narrative in this just… blossoms. That’s a good word for it. It takes all the mythology and world-building
up to this point, and introduces new elements that propel it towards the final
episode. We’ve been teased by all this
evil Dalek-y future stuff in the first two episodes, and now we get to romp
around in it.

And this story gets so dark in this episode, it’s
stunning. I love how dystopic and bleak
this portrayal of the future is. There’s
cameras, and squads of police doing random sweeps. There’s spies, and guerilla rebels, and a glimpse
of what I presume to be the indentured servitude of the majority of the human
populace. And that shit’s dark,
bro. I love it.

There’s even implied torture. Talk about bleak. This is how you do a dystopia story right.

And it’s just so well-directed and realized. The dried out grasses in the plain outside
the city. The dusty, metallic production
areas. Again, the computerized
depictions of the city/citadel/green eye of Sauron/whatever that huge building
is. There’s lots of dark smoke and
ominous saucers zipping about all over the place. The sets of the Controller’s area are dark
too, everything stark and metallic. Even
the people working there seem sapped of their humanity, interacting almost like
robotic drones. I noticed that they don’t
really look each other in the eye when talking, and that’s a really
interesting, unsettling touch. Huge,
huge props to Paul Bernard.

More directorly kudos: the last action set piece, with Jo
and The Doctor’s madcap escape.
Whew. So good. It’s so fast-paced, and cut together in such
a way that it’s just beautiful and exciting and glorious to watch. I’m not entirely sure if that’s the work of
the restoration team or not, but I have a feeling no. Or at least, I would like to believe that’s
original. It’s so wonderful, and years
ahead of its time.

I’m just in love with everything about this story, I’m sorry
if it’s a non-stop gushfest. It’s super
exciting to have a quality story to blog about.

It’s insane to me, though, that we’re three episodes in, and
we still have no idea what the answer is to the fundamental mystery of this
story: why are these guys so keen on changing history and assassinating Sir
Reginald? That’s insane. And I don’t even
care that they haven’t answered that yet!
Because we’re given all these other great mysteries and things to
contemplate, like how the Daleks are even here in the first place, or what
these production figures have to do with anything and how that all
relates. And how are the Doctor and Jo
even going to get out of this one?! The
Daleks have positively identified the Doctor, have him strapped to a table, and
they have Jo, too. It’s just so
thrilling.

(Sidenote: this story is also how you do cliffhangers, in my
opinion. The first cliffhanger is the
scary “reveal” of the Daleks, being all intimidating and screaming
EX-TER-MIN-ATE in their trademark way; the second, the Doctor comes face to
face with the Daleks and understands just how serious this situation is; and
the third and final cliffhanger is the most dire of all: the Daleks have the
Doctor prisoner, and escape seems highly unlikely. Each centers around the Daleks, but it
steadily builds and builds in intensity and OH SHIT-ness. Yes.
This is how it is done, boys and girls.)

I also love how… arrogant the Daleks are. They consider no other alternative to them
winning and coming out on top in this whole thing. They won’t allow for questioning, because to
them, it’s already a done deal. They’ve
won, of course they’ve won, because they are Daleks, and they are
superior. It’s quite glorious. And of course, they’re so sure of themselves,
that’s bound to be their downfall.

And you know what?
Fuck Terry Nation. I love Dalek
stories not written by him. Can you even
imagine this story written by Terry Nation?
No. Because he wouldn’t do
this. This serial is so refreshing, and
entertaining, and well-paced, with none of the typical Nationisms. I mean, sure, there’s a bit of run around and
capture and escape, but it’s Doctor Who,
for god’s sake, that’s just part of the show.
But I think it’s done quite well here, and I’m glad for that. There are already too many shitty
Nation-penned Dalek run-arounds. I’m
glad this is something of substance, something worthy of the Daleks’ return to the show after four seasons.

Wow, I’ve been gushing.
Let’s finish this, shall we?

Also, Pertwee is eating again. I love him.

Part 4

So, before this is over, I need to talk about the Controller
and how awesome he is. I had this
thought before in the last part, but I forgot to talk about it then, so you’re
getting it now. I do what I want.

Anyway. So I really
like the Controller. Remember how I
mentioned in the first part how the ghost-story setting was almost
Holmsian? The same thing, I think,
applies to the Controller in this story.
He’s a totally classy, dapper villain, a suitable foil for the Doctor, I
think, especially Pertwee. But he’s
really just one part of a classic Robert Holmes double-act. I mean, think about it. You have the suave front-man, the seeming
villain of the story, but really, just the spokesperson for the menacing Other
that is far more powerful and far scarier than the spokesman could ever hope to
be. In this story, it’s the Daleks. And even though the Daleks are introduced
relatively early into the story, the Controller continues to speak for them
throughout, until he decides to be all awesome and noble and help the Doctor
out, which I love.

Another complaint I have about this story is I feel that it
moves almost too fast? Unless I missed
something in a prior part, but all over a sudden this mustached leader of the
guerilla fighters showed up, and for a while I thought he was the guy left
behind, because they look rather similar.
So that could have been explained more, I think. But maybe I’m just turning into a cranky old
person. Kids these days.

The thing about this story is it waits until the last
possible moment to deliver all this exposition, and you know what? I don’t even care that they’re just sitting
around telling me all of this, because I’ve been wanting it so bad for so
long. It’s quite awesome, if you think
about it. And a really effective
story-telling technique, I think. I
mean, I wish it were a bit more subtle than “let’s all sit around the suite and
talk about the history of the world for the past 200 years” but hey, it’s still
pretty neat. It also helps that the
mythology and world building of this has been superb, so I’m actually interested
in what he has to say.

I love how we have all of these things set up in the prior
episodes, like the reason why the earth got so fucked over in the 22nd
century, why the renegades are trying to kill Sir Reginald, the whole
diplomatic conference, the impending attack of the Daleks. And they just all start falling into place as
we race towards the finish, like so many dominos toppling over each other and
making one of those pretty pictures. It’s
quite glorious. This story just does
everything right, doesn’t it? Jesus.

AND THE ACTION. The action. Oh my god, I don’t even have words. I know they doctored it up to look impressive
in the re-release, to add some scope to the battle, but it is SO FLIPPIN
AWESOME. Like, it’s still really
apparent that they could only afford 3 Daleks, but they edit them rolling out
of the tunnel on Earth in such a way that is really quite ingenious, I
think.

I honestly don’t know if I have anything else to say about
this, lest I fangirl for the rest of the time.
Ugh it’s just so good, I’m in shock.

Final Thoughts?: So… if you haven’t gathered by now, I love this.
Unabashedly.

Everything about it is excellent. The Doctor and Jo are in top form. If I have one complaint, it’s because there’s
not enough Brigadier? But I’m biased,
because he’s my favorite. Love Yates and
Benton and the silly repartee they have.
Really like The Controller. Not
so hot on the soldiers, but you know, they did their jobs convincingly enough.

The script is great, the direction is stunning. Some of the shots in this are just
swoon-worthy, they way they’re composed.
I love how the whole thing just starts, and once it starts, it doesn’t
stop. It’s well-paced, moves along at a
much fast clip than is expected in a Classic Who story, which I like. It’s refreshing and wonderful and just a fun
romp with some super dark elements that I’d either forgotten about, or wasn’t
paying too much attention to the first time around, because I honestly wasn’t
expecting them.

And you know what? It’s
a great Dalek story. I like how the
Daleks don’t really get involved til the end, because then they’re in control
longer. Let’s be real; the Daleks are
ruling an entire empire. They have
minions to do their dirty work. They’ve
got human puppets to smooth everything over for them. And that’s exactly what happened here, and I
love it. It’s realistic; at least, as
realistic as a show like Doctor Who
can get, I suppose. I just mean in the
way it portrays power. The Daleks don’t
get involved until the very end, and it’s set up in such a way that you KNOW
shit’s about to hit the fan, because the Daleks are getting their metaphorical
hands (plungers?) dirty. And it’s
awesome.

So suck on that,
Terry Nation.

Next Time!: First Doctor! Susan! Barbara and Ian (squee)! Creepy ass aliens! Susan has weird mental abilities! And that's all I remember of this story because it's really boring! Matt's back next Tuesday to take on "The Sensorites!"

About The Blog...

I'm a recentish Doctor Who fan (Summer 2008, really) who loves experiencing and discussing Doctor Who. From its triumphs to its flaws to its high points to its lows, we talk about it all and nothing is not fair game.

This blog discusses all the Doctors from Hartnell to McGann, covering all The Doctor Who stories from the classic run on television. Other people focus on the directing and the music and the performances, but my focus (because I work in television) is on the actual production, writing, and construction of these stories and you can find all of our entries via the index at the top of the blog.

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